Awesome intro video. Tonight everyone will be the heroes of their own stories and everyone will get their redemption, that was the jist of it all.

Commentary is Josh and Don Callis! We also have a slightly new stage, looks similar to the old school RAW.

Drago vs Aerostar - 7.5/10
Great opener! This was as good as a usual match between this pair, sometimes they're botchy, but they were acclimated to the ring tonight, except for the finish that Aerostar slipped off the rope when going to the planchita, so he changed it into the second rope springboard DDT, which is arguably a lot cooler. They hit all their greatest hits, all of them getting good reactions from the crowd.

Sydal and Josh meet before the show - It's the excuse to not have Josh with Sydal. I got hints from this that Josh is just bullshitting Sydal.

Impact Wrestling Tag Team Championship Match
LAX (C) vs Big Bad Gravy Daddy - 6/10
Before the match they did skit with Santana and Ortiz playing domino in the club house, Santana gets in Konnan's chair, they get a call from someone called 'King' saying that someone took out Konnan.

Steiner and Drake started working over Ortiz early on with some ref distractions. Once Santana came in, they went all tornado on each other. We got near falls soon after with Steiner locking in the Steiner recliner, Drake going for a bunch of super athletic spots like a springboard moonsault. Finish saw LAX prepping Drake for the 5150, but Santana instead threw himself over Steiner outside leaving Drake alone with Ortiz, Drake hits the Gravy Train to capture the titles. 2018, Scott Steiner is the Impact Tag Team Champion. Josh played it out as Santana not being 100% focused with the Konnan thing. Overall a good match considering Steiner was in there.

Trevor Lee vs "The Machine" Brian Cage vs Dezmond Xavier vs DJ Z vs Taiji Ishimori vs El Hijo del Fantasma - 7/10
Three of the six guys just did two PWG shows on Friday and Saturday and quickly flew all across the country for this show. Rules of the match are like ROH's 4 Corner Survival, as in there are only two legal men and lucha tags.

The only heel in the match was Trevor Lee, so most of the first part of the match was building to Lee antagonizing everyone, but especially Cage, that just couldn't find a person to tag to get in and kill Lee. Eventually Cage did come in and killed everyone until Xavier and DJZ teamed up with superkicks to take him out. Around this point, everyone was getting in there hitting a lot of counters and moves. Cage at the end kill everyone again, won with the Drill Claw on Dezmond. Pretty good match, tons of action.

Allie Interview - She talks about how tonight she will prove herself against Su Yung and show that he is not a paper champion as many fans believe she is.

Taya Valkyrie vs Kiera Hogan - 5.5/10
Young (literally) on fire girl vs the cocky veteran. Taya worked over Kiera a lot, but every time that she got over-confident, Kiera would make a comeback. Towards the end, the match got competitive with Hogan getting close to finishing off Taya, but at the end Taya turned it around, hit Road To Valhalla for the pin. Ok match.

Mid-way through the match a heel Tessa Blanchard came out and sat with Callis and Josh. She was great as the cocky heel, but she took control of the conversation and so there wasn't much attention paid on the match. It's weird when Josh has to be the babyface in the table. Besides the point, this is a weird way of debuting, not much of an impact.

Petey Williams Interview - He tried to do the Steiner math, but failed terribly. Actual Steiner came out and did Steiner math himself and implied that he fucks Petey's wife. Petey was happy about it.

Impact X-Division Championship Match
Petey Williams vs Matt Sydal (C) - 8.5/10
Back and forward match with Petey working over Sydal's legs and back, while Sydal worked on Petey's legs and abdomen. There was a small story that Sydal kept getting away from the Destroyer, and after countering the SSP, Petey finally landed it, but Sydal rolled out of the ring. Finish saw then Petey in desperation, go for a Super Canadian Destroyer, but Sydal countered, hit that variation on the Here It Is Driver. Really great match, crisp looking wrestling.

Moose, Dreamer, and Edwards Interview - It was heated, but Dreamer cut a promo about Black and White teaming, about Men and Woman teaming.

House of Hardcore Match
Tommy Dreamer, Moose, & Eddie Edwards w/Alisha Edwards vs OVE - 8/10
There are a bunch of weapons surrounding the ring. OVE have improved their masks.

Awesome start, Jake Crist tried to jump the good guys with a Tope Con Giro, but Dreamer caught him powerbomb position and dropped in on the ring apron. That very spot set up the feel for the rest of the match, this was a fight. Tons of weapons, tons of spots, everyone at one point took a sick looking move with a weapon.

After a while, OVE got rid of Moose and Dreamer, leaving Eddie to be worked on by the three, where they dropped him with the All Seeing Eye for a near fall when Moose came in with the save. Together they dropped Dave with a Doomsday BKP onto tacks. Finish saw Moose do a plancha onto Dave who was in a table, but mid-air, Jake hit a cutter on Moose, so all three men crashed and burned onto tables. Inside the ring, Callihan was about to do the bat spot on Eddie again, but Dreamer saved him, but as Dreamer is gonna take out Callihan, Sami rolls Dreamer up for the pin.

During the match, Don Callis had a great line saying he didn't have anymore towels for Eddie. the company had saved his life once, but he still came back and got himself in this match.

Post-match - Eddie attacked Callihan, he busted him open using the barbwire bat, taped his arms into the ropes. He tortures Callihan, takes out the ref that tried to stop him. He pushed off Dreamer, killed Callihan, took out both Crists, and finally, Alisha comes out, Eddie doesn't see her and as he turns around with the Kendo Stick, Eddie takes Alisha out. Alisha was taken to the back by medics. Eddie was devastated. Callihan left bloody and sacrificed in the ropes.

Eddie got wife beater chants at the end. Alisha got her hair done just to be hit with a Kendo Stick to the face. Commentary sold this a super serious. This was the blow off this feud deserved with Callihan getting his comeuppance and Eddie standing tall, even with the hint that the lust for revenge left Eddie deranged and it cost him his own wife.

Fenix Promo - Good promo, he bragged about being the first LU champion. He talked about losing to Pentagon, but there's no family tonight, it's all him and he'll win. This was probably one of the best promos he's done.

Austin Aries Interview - Mostly talked about losing the title without him being involved in the decision, to the point that he hinted Fenix laying down for Penta or vice versa. He said that regardless, he wouldn't lose tonight.

Even with Yung jumping Allie, the babyface had control early on, but quickly turned again when Sutter got involved with distractions and by pulling Aliie's leg off when she was going for a plancha to the outside. Eventually Allie did make a strong comeback, at which point they started going for their finishers, with Allie being the first to land the Best Superkick Ever, but Sutter distracted the ref. Allie took out Sutter, but the distraction was enough for Yung to get up. Allie reversed the Panic Switch and rollled up Yung for the win. Match was a lot better than what I expected it.

Post-match - Su Yung was increadbly mad. Sutter tried to calm her down by proposing to her. Yung spat red mist and the mandible claw on Sutter. As Callis put it, 'Would you marry me?" is becoming Sutter's catchphrase.

Slammiversary is going to Canada, they're running The Rebel Complex from Toronto!

Impact World Championship Match
Austin Aries (C) vs Pentagon Jr. vs Fenix - 9/10
Penta and Fenix's Impact songs are great, fitting. Fenix came out wearing a cape, Penta his big match TV attire. Aries came out with his newly won DEFY Wrestling championship, new era Ultimo Dragon. McKenzie did the introductions, she was kinda bad, she botched Fenix's.

Fans are 98% behind Pentagon, to the point that it pushed Aries to be his heelish self. This was similar to the NOLA show, in the sense that it feels like Aries vs Penta AND Fenix, and Penta vs Fenix iff Aries is taken out. As the match went on, we got some incredible spots, like Fenix tossing Aries to the outside who turns it into a huracanrana on Penta. We saw Penta do a german on Aries, WHILE Aries had Fenix lifted for a brainbuster!

Finish saw Pentagon and Fenix double team Aries with superkicks, but this time, Pentagon took out Fenix too. Penta hit the Gory Special/Package Piledriver combination, broke Aries' arm, hit the Penta Driver on Aries, and won the championship! Awesome main event.

It's a really interesting move, not only moving away from Aries as the champ, but giving it to someone that can't cut an English promo, that is not officially (as of this writing) signed to the company, and that is barely debuting. The breaking of the arm tells me that Aries will be gone from the Canada tapings while Penta establishes his reign. Also, i'm already calling it, Penta is definitely returning to AAA and defending this title there.

Post-match - Fenix and Penta embraced in celebration.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
I believe in Don Callis. I believe in Scott D'Amore, and I believe in Impact Wrestling. This show was great, plain and simple. Great wrestling bell to bell, some surprises, some good blow-offs, some great debuts, good looking new belts without tape on them, and good finishes all around. I'm assuming you'll read a lot of bad reviews because some people just live in 2011, but this show is definitely worth checking out.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
I believe in Don Callis. I believe in Scott D'Amore, and I believe in Impact Wrestling. This show was great, plain and simple. Great wrestling bell to bell, some surprises, some good blow-offs, some great debuts, good looking new belts without tape on them, and good finishes all around. I'm assuming you'll read a lot of bad reviews because some people just live in 2011, but this show is definitely worth checking out.

The only real negative I've heard about this show was that the matches were botchy and that Steiner could barely move. I don't think anyone still has it in their heads that this is Russo or Jarrett or Gaburick or Bischoff-booked TNA anymore. This- the big show PPV- was the test and there were no f*ck finishes, no interference, no bullsh*t And people have praised them for that (Meltzer, Bryan, and Vinny chief among them, and I expect Lance will do the same on the podcast tomorrow).

But based on my own experience with them and what I've heard a few others say, the issue seems to be that while the show isn't bad by any means, it's not doing anything interesting, either. I just can't bring myself to give a sh*t about 85% of the people on the show. Even if they are wrestlers I like in the ring like Sydal, Ishimori, Eddie, Drago, and Taya, the angles TNA has put them in mostly has me not caring. I kept thinking all day "I should really watch this show for myself" but then I look at the card and say "but I don't want to waste three hours watching OVE and Su Yung and Allie and Tommy Dreamer and Brian Cage and Trevor Lee and 2018 Scott Steiner and a bunch of random Lucha guys. Fenix has nothing in the way of a character, and every time I have seen him outside of LU, Penta has been a total spot monkey. I've already seen a million Drago vs. Aero Star matches. I have no interest in any of these cartoon goofs in the women's division and Braxton Sutter bullsh*t or heel Josh Matthews. Using LU talent makes me want to watch them less because I know I can just watch those guys in LU with stories that I actually care about. The promotion just plain isn't interesting to me.

The only real negative I've heard about this show was that the matches were botchy and that Steiner could barely move. I don't think anyone still has it in their heads that this is Russo or Jarrett or Gaburick or Bischoff-booked TNA anymore. This- the big show PPV- was the test and there were no f*ck finishes, no interference, no bullsh*t And people have praised them for that (Meltzer, Bryan, and Vinny chief among them, and I expect Lance will do the same on the podcast tomorrow).

But based on my own experience with them and what I've heard a few others say, the issue seems to be that while the show isn't bad by any means, it's not doing anything interesting, either. I just can't bring myself to give a sh*t about 85% of the people on the show. Even if they are wrestlers I like in the ring like Sydal, Ishimori, Eddie, Drago, and Taya, the angles TNA has put them in mostly has me not caring. I kept thinking all day "I should really watch this show for myself" but then I look at the card and say "but I don't want to waste three hours watching OVE and Su Yung and Allie and Tommy Dreamer and Brian Cage and Trevor Lee and 2018 Scott Steiner and a bunch of random Lucha guys. Fenix has nothing in the way of a character, and every time I have seen him outside of LU, Penta has been a total spot monkey. I've already seen a million Drago vs. Aero Star matches. I have no interest in any of these cartoon goofs in the women's division and Braxton Sutter bullsh*t or heel Josh Matthews. Using LU talent makes me want to watch them less because I know I can just watch those guys in LU with stories that I actually care about. The promotion just plain isn't interesting to me.

there were some botches, and they were noticeable because they were all springboard spots, that corner was definitely cursed, but aside from that, i didn't see many botches. Steiner fought like a roided 55yr old would fight really, i didn't think he was that bad, when you have LAX and Drake doing springboards, he definitely looked stiff. Part of my comment actually came after listening to Vinny, he was a dude that went into the show thinking of hating it, and even then he found stuff to praise. I was still a bit hot about that podcast. I'm not a fan of WWE, but even I would be wrong going in today to hate on Smackdown just because Smackdown sucked in 2008. Even Bryan and Dave, the first thing they did was try to put it in perspective of other companies, that's just a shitty way of reviewing stuff. You can refer to same matches or stories, but not the company. We don't go saying of Progress 55 was good, but if this was a njpw show, this would had been bad. If Meltzer doesn't judge WWE to NJPW's standards, then don't do it with Impact either.

I really don't blame you if you don't want to watch it, but i'd only really give YOU a pass, i know first hand how much wrestling you watch and i can completely understand not seeing the value of watching. That's the same reason why i don't watch WWE or ROH anymore.

The only real negative I've heard about this show was that the matches were botchy and that Steiner could barely move. I don't think anyone still has it in their heads that this is Russo or Jarrett or Gaburick or Bischoff-booked TNA anymore. This- the big show PPV- was the test and there were no f*ck finishes, no interference, no bullsh*t And people have praised them for that (Meltzer, Bryan, and Vinny chief among them, and I expect Lance will do the same on the podcast tomorrow).

But based on my own experience with them and what I've heard a few others say, the issue seems to be that while the show isn't bad by any means, it's not doing anything interesting, either. I just can't bring myself to give a sh*t about 85% of the people on the show. Even if they are wrestlers I like in the ring like Sydal, Ishimori, Eddie, Drago, and Taya, the angles TNA has put them in mostly has me not caring. I kept thinking all day "I should really watch this show for myself" but then I look at the card and say "but I don't want to waste three hours watching OVE and Su Yung and Allie and Tommy Dreamer and Brian Cage and Trevor Lee and 2018 Scott Steiner and a bunch of random Lucha guys. Fenix has nothing in the way of a character, and every time I have seen him outside of LU, Penta has been a total spot monkey. I've already seen a million Drago vs. Aero Star matches. I have no interest in any of these cartoon goofs in the women's division and Braxton Sutter bullsh*t or heel Josh Matthews. Using LU talent makes me want to watch them less because I know I can just watch those guys in LU with stories that I actually care about. The promotion just plain isn't interesting to me.

there were some botches, and they were noticeable because they were all springboard spots, that corner was definitely cursed, but aside from that, i didn't see many botches. Steiner fought like a roided 55yr old would fight really, i didn't think he was that bad, when you have LAX and Drake doing springboards, he definitely looked stiff. Part of my comment actually came after listening to Vinny, he was a dude that went into the show thinking of hating it, and even then he found stuff to praise. I was still a bit hot about that podcast. I'm not a fan of WWE, but even I would be wrong going in today to hate on Smackdown just because Smackdown sucked in 2008. Even Bryan and Dave, the first thing they did was try to put it in perspective of other companies, that's just a shitty way of reviewing stuff. You can refer to same matches or stories, but not the company. We don't go saying of Progress 55 was good, but if this was a njpw show, this would had been bad. If Meltzer doesn't judge WWE to NJPW's standards, then don't do it with Impact either.

I think you've kind of put them in a no-win scenario, though. If you want them to just say "it was a great show" because it was great by TNA standards, then how is a listener supposed to distinguish that from Dave says a New Japan show is great?

Also, on a slightly related note, Wade Keller had an interesting point going into the show predicting that it might to worse than people expect in terms of buyrate because of "sticker shock." If you're given the choice between spending your $40 on this one three-hour TNA show or one whole month each of pick your combo of four of WWE Network/NJPW World/Honor Club/RevPro/Club WWN/Demand PROGRESS/wXwNow/All Japan/CHIKARAtopia, can you really justify spending that money on three hours' worth of entertainment?
TNA is in a tricky spot here with the PPVs for that reason. I think what they should do is take the route of the TakeOver shows or some of the stuff Gabe has done (particularly the original ROH PPVs but he's done it in EVOLVE, too) and cut the PPVs down to six BIG matches and ensure that each one really has time to be blow-away. Like if you took a Big Four NJPW show and chopped off the pointless bullsh*t on the undercard. They need to make themselves must-see. This show didn't scream must-see to me at all.

I think you've kind of put them in a no-win scenario, though. If you want them to just say "it was a great show" because it was great by TNA standards, then how is a listener supposed to distinguish that from Dave says a New Japan show is great?

Also, on a slightly related note, Wade Keller had an interesting point going into the show predicting that it might to worse than people expect in terms of buyrate because of "sticker shock." If you're given the choice between spending your $40 on this one three-hour TNA show or one whole month each of pick your combo of four of WWE Network/NJPW World/Honor Club/RevPro/Club WWN/Demand PROGRESS/wXwNow/All Japan/CHIKARAtopia, can you really justify spending that money on three hours' worth of entertainment?
TNA is in a tricky spot here with the PPVs for that reason. I think what they should do is take the route of the TakeOver shows or some of the stuff Gabe has done (particularly the original ROH PPVs but he's done it in EVOLVE, too) and cut the PPVs down to six BIG matches and ensure that each one really has time to be blow-away. Like if you took a Big Four NJPW show and chopped off the pointless bullsh*t on the undercard. They need to make themselves must-see. This show didn't scream must-see to me at all.

just like we do, "it was a great show for Impact" or "it was great for what we've seen of impact". Dave has said many times that he rates NJPW and WWE to different standards and fans understand that, like I said, he never goes and says, oh yeah, wrestlemania was good, but if this was Wrestle Kingdom it wouldn't had sucked. All i'm asking here is that we treat everyone the same, otherwise why not just compare everything to AAA and now everything is awesome. You and me know, fans take Dave's word as gospel, and wording is everything

I really can't justify spending the 40 bucks, but realistically, we were not gonna pay for it anyway, at least not yet. idk how much money they made out of PPV buys, but maybe this particular show could had been a Twitch 'network special' and get as many eyes on the product so everyone can see it and make their own opinion.

I think you've kind of put them in a no-win scenario, though. If you want them to just say "it was a great show" because it was great by TNA standards, then how is a listener supposed to distinguish that from Dave says a New Japan show is great?

Also, on a slightly related note, Wade Keller had an interesting point going into the show predicting that it might to worse than people expect in terms of buyrate because of "sticker shock." If you're given the choice between spending your $40 on this one three-hour TNA show or one whole month each of pick your combo of four of WWE Network/NJPW World/Honor Club/RevPro/Club WWN/Demand PROGRESS/wXwNow/All Japan/CHIKARAtopia, can you really justify spending that money on three hours' worth of entertainment?
TNA is in a tricky spot here with the PPVs for that reason. I think what they should do is take the route of the TakeOver shows or some of the stuff Gabe has done (particularly the original ROH PPVs but he's done it in EVOLVE, too) and cut the PPVs down to six BIG matches and ensure that each one really has time to be blow-away. Like if you took a Big Four NJPW show and chopped off the pointless bullsh*t on the undercard. They need to make themselves must-see. This show didn't scream must-see to me at all.

just like we do, "it was a great show for Impact" or "it was great for what we've seen of impact". Dave has said many times that he rates NJPW and WWE to different standards and fans understand that, like I said, he never goes and says, oh yeah, wrestlemania was good, but if this was Wrestle Kingdom it wouldn't had sucked. All i'm asking here is that we treat everyone the same, otherwise why not just compare everything to AAA and now everything is awesome. You and me know, fans take Dave's word as gospel, and wording is everything

I really can't justify spending the 40 bucks, but realistically, we were not gonna pay for it anyway, at least not yet. idk how much money they made out of PPV buys, but maybe this particular show could had been a Twitch 'network special' and get as many eyes on the product so everyone can see it and make their own opinion.

I see what you're saying. I think he actually often does (not in terms of full shows but in terms of main events) also bury WWE in comparison to New Japan.